April Editor’s Picks

A curated selection of community events, art and music news, locally made products and more, hand-picked by The Dirt’s editorial team.

1. Jad Albumrad, creator and former host of Radiolab, speaks at the Mondavi Center April 20. Abumrad focuses on how to have difficult conversations with our fellow humans, using a series of lectures, games and exercises he will explore with the audience.
2. Davis-based artist Toni Rizzo’s “Lost Diary” steals the show at the Pence Gallery this month. Art by Cathy Newlin & Toni Rizzo continues through April 30.
3. Last month’s dry air and strong wind wrecked our lips. Yours, too? Davis-made loveBB lip balms to the rescue. The brand is sustainable, WOC- and AAPI-owned. Find at Avid & Co., Pence Gallery, and on Instagram @lovebbgoods.
4. The Sheep Mowers are back out on campus. These wooly guys are part of a research project to determine whether sheep can eat weeds and grass and fertilize/pest control as well as or better than conventional methods. Watch them graze in front of Wickson Hall April 5-7 and 26-28.
5. Latinx literature-and-art magazine Huizache returns to print after a Pandemic shuttering. Huizache has found a new home on the UC Davis Campus under the guidance of Maceo Montoya, Chicana/o Studies and English professor. It’s available in print and online (huizachemag.org).
6. The Hypha Collective continues their Crafting & Community Ferment workshop. Last month, they created vegan kombucha leather and sourdough hankies. Now, they’ll be stitched together to create a community quilt. Odd Fellows Hall, April 14.
7. Parents: imagine LEGO blocks your kids can play with—that you’ll never step on in the middle of the night. How? LEGO Block Party at the Stephens Branch Library April 14. It’s two hours of creation, design and play with LEGO bricks… that you get to leave there.
8. The Growing Groves, an LGBTQI-owned specialty plant shop, celebrates one year of business in Davis. They’re hosting their largest Night Market yet on April 8—expect lots of plants, local vendors and a big raffle.
9. We’re thrilled to keep running into Evan Thomas Lilley and his art around town. Keep an eye out for him sketching and painting vibrant scenes of life in Davis, like “St. Patricks Day at the Beer Shoppe”.
10. Davis Music Fest dropped their summer lineup and our minds are blown. The talent—Death Valley Girls, Earth Exit and French Cassettes—is high caliber. Tickets and more online (davismusicfest.com); June 16–18.